Three people are dead after an armed assailant entered a suburban Baltimore shopping mall on Saturday. One of the dead is believed to be the shooter, police say.
"We were able to identify three victims at an upper level store," Howard County Police Chief Bill McMahon told reporters. "One of the victim appears to be the shooter."
McMahon, who declined to name the store where the shooting occurred, said authorities are "confident" there was only a single shooter at the Columbia Mall, located on the outskirts of Baltimore.
"We do not have the identity of the victims yet," he said. "We do not have a motive for the shooting."
He said that although police believed the scene had been secured, there were still many people still inside the mall who sheltered in place after shots were fired.
At the time of the shooting, Howard County police tweeted that officers "made entry and found three dead, one found near a gun and ammunition."
Officials later said four people were also hurt, but none of them seriously.
"Customers inside the mall are reporting that the mall is in lockdown and customers have been directed toward the AMC Theater. Other customers reported hearing gunfire before fleeing the mall."
McMahon said that the first 911 calls from the scene came in at about 11:15 a.m. ET.
The Associated Press quotes Laura McKinzles of Columbia, who works in the mall, as saying she heard between eight and 10 gunshots, followed by people running and screaming. She ran into the backroom of a perfume store and locked the door.
Update at 2:50 p.m. ET:
The Howard County Police twitter feed says the shooting occurred at a skate shop called Zumiez on the mall's upper level. The weapon found near the suspected shooter was a shotgun, it says.
